


Wrong Frequency

by keepitdreamin



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bruce is awkward, M/M, Science Boyfriends, Science Bros, Science Bros Week, Tony isn't so good with emotions, listen, mentioned Stucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 18:52:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4111378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keepitdreamin/pseuds/keepitdreamin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony's been telling Bruce something for a long time, but Bruce hasn't been listening.</p><p>Science Bros Week 2015. June 9: Listen</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wrong Frequency

**Author's Note:**

> Woops, missed yesterday, so this is going up a day late. The prompt was "Listen." Hope you enjoy!

“Bruce you have to listen to this!”

Bruce sighed at the excitement in Tony's voice; it almost always meant that he was about to do something incredibly stupid and Bruce would spend the rest of the day with a migraine. He briefly considered ignoring Tony till he went away or got distracted by something else, but he discarded that plan quickly. The last time he'd tried that, Thor had gotten annoyed, set Mjolnir on Tony's chest, and had gone to spend the rest of the day with Jane, leaving Bruce to deal with an angry, _stuck_ Tony. He definitely did not want a repeat of that situation.

“Bruuuuce, come on! You're gonna wanna hear this.”

Bruce sighed before looking up from his notes at Tony, who was bouncing up on the balls of his feet in excitement. “Really Tony? Do I _really_ want to hear it, or do you just want me to hear it to either scar me for life or embarrass one or more of our teammates?”

“Yes.” Tony gave him one of his patented (yes, _actually_ patented) Stark grins.

Bruce rolled his eyes. He gave up. “Fine. What is it?”

Tony's eyes brightened- oh no, that was never a good sign. Bruce had the sinkingrealization that he had made a _terrible_ mistake in agreeing to this. “Jarvis!” Tony called out, as he spun Bruce's chair around to face him. “Play the clip!” He grabbed the arms of the chair and leaned forward, invading Bruce's personal space. Bruce raised an eyebrow but didn't move away. There was no use really, Tony was _always_ invading his space.

“Yes, sir.” And Bruce was sure he didn't imagine the resignation in the AI's voice. He was sooo going to regret this.

An audio clip began playing. It was just white noise, and Bruce looked expectantly at Tony, who was practically vibrating in his shoes. _“Wait for it,”_ he mouthed. And then…

_“Oh my god._ _Bucky._ _Fuck, Bucky, please. Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._ _Bucky, Bucky, please_ _…”_

Bruce temporarily forgot how to breathe or think or do anything because that was _Steve's_ voice panting through the surround speakers and Bucky moaning underneath it all, and he _really_ shouldn't be listening to this and it most definitely shouldn't be making him feel like this and _goddammit_ , _Tony._

_“Ah. Ah. I can’t… Bucky… Fuck! Shit. Shit. Shit. I can’t do it…”_

The clip stopped there, and Bruce sent a silent thank you to a god he'd stopped believing in long ago that Tony didn't have _video_. Oh no, he didn't want to think about that, not with Tony literally inches away from him and wearing the smirk that Bruce had privately dubbed as his “Why Am I Friends with this _Asshole_ ” or alternately “What Are You _Doing_ to Me Tony?… Asshole”. Bruce took comfort in the fact that he was still frozen in shock, thus his face gave nothing away of his internal turmoil.

Bruce, once again in control of his faculties, took a deep breath, then another, and another. The shock was wearing off and now the mortification was creeping in. He didn't get a chance to dwell on that though because Tony chose that moment to spin the chair around and start talking.

“Did you hear that? That motherfucking _hypocrite_ , telling ME to watch my language!” Bruce continued his breathing, blocking out Tony's voice as he continued rambling. He needed to get himself under control; forget the, er, _things_ he'd just heard (and _how exactly did Tony get that clip?_ ) and Tony's smirking face so close to his own. This was probably not the best time for Tony to find out just how Bruce felt about him. The _best_ time Bruce figured was never. He never needed to find out how often Bruce wanted to shut him up… with his lips. _Focus and breathe, Bruce_. In: one, two, three, four. Out: one, two, three, four. In: one, two, three, four. Out: one, two, three, four. In: one, two thre-

“Hey, **hey**. Brucey baby, are you listening to me?” Tony snapped and waved his hand in front of Bruce's face, breaking his concentration. Bruce blinked up at Tony, and at this acknowledgment, Tony grabbed his arm, pulling him out of his chair and towards the door. As Bruce stumbled along beside the, quite possibly _mad_ , scientist, Tony chattered. “I was just _saying_ that we needed fresh coffee before we could properly plot how to use this. I'm thinking we set it as his ring tone. _All_ of his ring tones. It'll serve him right, telling me to watch my language when he's got a mouth like **that**.”

“But,” Tony continued a minute later thoughtfully, “I suppose anyone would have a mouth like that with Barnes fucking them.” Bruce, who'd been taking a sip of fresh coffee, nearly choked. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be his life. No, he must be dreaming because no _way_ was this was actually happening. Tony, noticing Bruce's flusteredness, grinned and continued, “Have you _seen_ that guy? I mean, hot damn, I usually prefer to top with dudes, but I'd totally make an exception for him. He certainly has a quite _rousing_ endorsement from Steve.”

 _“Tony,”_ Bruce choked.

Tony grinned over the top of his own mug. “What, Brucey? It doesn't matter _how_ straight you say are, if you say you _wouldn't_ go for that, you're a goddamn liar. And I haven't claimed to be straight since I was 14 and realized that both girls and guys were hot. So tell me please, what are you ' _Tony_ 'ing about?” He raised a brow pointedly and Bruce realized with a gut twisting feeling that he was expecting a reply and was willing to wait it out, and a Tony willing to wait was the most dangerous Tony he knew of.

“It's just- he's our friend. _They're_ our friends. It's… weird to talk about them like that,” Bruce managed.

Tony snorted. “What? Like you've never had 'inappropriate' thoughts about a friend?” Bruce remained resolutely silent, but the growing flush gave him away. Tony smiled triumphantly. “You _have!_ I knew it! It's one of us right? Come on, tell me, tell me, tell me!” Bruce flushed and the growing pit of unease in stomach flip flopped uncomfortably.

“Fine,” Tony set his mug down and steepled his fingers, putting on his most intense concentration face, the one he reserved for his most difficult projects, “then you leave me no choice but to guess.” Bruce couldn't breathe. He couldn't believe this was actually happening. It must be some kind of bad dream or a joke, but no. Tony was setting his full concentration on Bruce (who was sure he looked just like a deer staring into headlights), and then he was smiling and leaning forward. “I think for my first guess, I'm going to go with…” He was dangerously close now and their breath was mingling. “Me. Am I right?”

Bruce nodded, he must have nodded, because the next moment Tony's lips were pressed against his own, and they were warm and soft and turning up in a smile. Tony pulled back and grinned, “This is going to be fun.”

Bruce shook himself out of his shock and pulled back, stepping away from Tony. He needed to get his head on straight because no matter how much he _wanted_ to just have fun with Tony- oh so very much- he knew that couldn't last. Tony hadn't been known as a playboy for nothing, and Bruce was well aware of his track record with relationships. That's why he'd never said anything, why he knew it could never work. He took a deep breath to steady himself, before speaking. “This isn't… Tony, this isn't some kind of joke to me. I don't… it's not something I take lightly and not something you can just play with till you lose interest and throw me out for the next shiny thing. It's not like that.”

Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I _know_ it's not. And it's not for me either. Bruce… I've been trying to tell you how I feel for _months_ , but I guess you haven't been listening,” he smiled ruefully, and Bruce thought back. Back to that first handshake and _'I'm a huge fan of how you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.'_ Blueberries and conspiracy theories that turned out to be true. Jokes about god smashing and the Other Guy rumbling happy in the back of his mind. A one day visit that turned into a week then months and an offer to be partners. His own lab that he found himself sharing with Tony more often than not and half baked ideas being thrown around at 3 am over pizza and beer. A joke and a laugh always ready to diffuse a situation when he started feeling _too much_ and waking up to Tony giving him a clean set of clothes and reassurances that the Hulk hadn't done too much damage, 'Not any more than the rest of us anyway.' Video clips of Iron Man _riding piggy back_ on the Hulk and an angry Tony standing in front of General Ross, telling him to back the fuck off. An arm thrown over his shoulder and laughs over private jokes no one else understood. A face too close to his own and eyes that sparkled when Bruce said that maybe the Hulk wasn't _too_ bad. An assurance that he could leave freely whenever he wanted to and tight hugs and wide smiles when he came back. And… Bruce's eyes widened as it all clicked. Oh. _Oh_.

Tony's lips quirked up and he stepped forward, closer to Bruce, “It seems I was trying to reach you on AM while you were stuck on FM. We finally on the same frequency, Bruce?”

“Yeah,” Bruce cleared his throat, “Yeah, I'm getting you loud and clear.”

“Good.” Tony held open his arms and Bruce stepped forward, letting himself be wrapped into a tight embrace. It was nice and comforting and Tony's goatee scratched his neck where he'd burrowed his head, but it was a pleasant kind of scratch that left Bruce wondering how it would feel elsewhere on his body. As he contemplated this and the fact that now this was something he could _know_ and not just imagine, Tony pulled back enough to whisper into his ear, “Because, quite frankly, listening to Cap and Bucky have at it was one of my last ideas. If that hadn't worked, I was just going to show up in the lab naked and we could start from there.” Bruce huffed out a laugh and Tony pulled back to fully face him, grinning wickedly. “Of course, we could still do that. Actually, naked science sounds like a _very_ good idea to m-umph.” Bruce closed the few inches between them and caught Tony's lips with his own.

A few minutes later, when they were both out of breath and realizing they should _probably_ move this somewhere more private, Bruce pulled back. “You talk entirely too much, you know that?”

Tony laughed and stuck out his tongue. “Yeah, but you love it.”

Bruce smiled and leaned forward, moving his mouth along Tony's jaw. “God help me,” he murmured between kisses, “I do.” He sucked particularly hard on Tony's pulse point, earning a gasp and a hard tug back up to his lips.

“Fuck,” Tony groaned against his lips, “Bedroom. Now.” He pulled away, grabbed Bruce's hand and tugged him towards the elevator. Bruce couldn't help laughing as he stumbled along beside him. This was good. Every thing was good. Tony was warm and solid right beside him, the Other Guy was rumbling contently in the back of his head, and Bruce was centered and happy for the first time in a long time.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Any mistakes you can blame on the fact I wrote this in the middle of the night and on no sleep.


End file.
